Samsung television warranty in Vietnam

I had the prejudice that the warranty of Samsung products in Vietnam would be a horror story. But I turn out that the warranty is even better than in Europe. You don’ t even need to leave your home.

A screen which I can use to watch Netflix, a screen which I occasionally can hook-up to my laptop as a computer monitor and a screen with good sound. That was my wishlist when I searched for a new screen. I want a small screen. Not bigger than 32 inches. Believe me. People in Vietnam said that’s too small. In Vietnam, the living rooms are dominated by big screens. You need to have a bigger screen than your neighbors.

I could choose between a television or a computer screen. The decision I took was the television because most computer monitors have underpowered low-quality speakers. I didn’t want to invest in a separated sound system. In Vietnam, most of the televisions with a screen size of 32 inches and smaller have a low resolution. Those so-called HD-ready televisions have only 1366 by 768 pixels panels. (I saw even a 1280 x 720 pixels television. The horror, the horror) In 2018 that resolution is not accepted anymore for a television. I want to use the screen for multimedia design work. I need the workspace. I need a high resolution. I don’t want to compromise with a low resolution.

I found in the Samsung UA32M5500 a good friend. a 32-inch television with a real full-HD panel that offers 1920 by 1080 pixels. The television is flat and offers a lot of functionality for around 340 dollars. that’s included with delivery and installation.

After 14 months I got started to notice some problems in the image quality.
Two backlight LEDs seemed to stop working. Also, the backlight was flickering. The first thing I thought was that this is the beginning of the end. The backlight problems will grow bigger and I can’t do anything about it because I thought that I didn’t have any warranty anymore. WRONG ASSUMPTION.

This can not be true. After 14 months the television already shows signs of malfunction. I decided to send Samsung an e-mail.

Hello,

As a long-term Dutch Samsung customer, I have a question about the quality of Samsung television in Vietnam. In the Netherlands, I have always owned Samsung television. First a 32-inch LCD and later a 40-inch full-HD LCD. Both televisions worked flawlessly. When I moved to Vietnam I decided to buy a Samsung again. After a long research, I decided to go for the UA32M5500. A small television with real 1080P full HD. So I can use the television also for my edition work. The television was delivered to me on 26 June 2017.

This week I started to notice a problem with the backlight. Two LEDs on the left side of the screen seem to stop working. Plus that side has also a flickering. It looks like a hardware failure. Now I understand that in Vietnam the television doesn’t have two years of warranty like I’m used to in Europe. But only one year of warranty. So it seems that I don’t have any warranty anymore.

But this is a Samsung. It not normal that after 14 months of usage the television is already shown signs of problems. My girlfriends say its normal because the Vietnamese people get the lower quality products from Samsung and I have to take my losses. But I refuse to believe this rumor. I always loved the Samsung television because of their beautiful screen quality. But now I see this black spots on the screen where the backlight stopped working. Can Samsung assist me in finding a solution so I can use my television how this television supposed to function?

Yours sincerely,

Rienk Jan Schurer
rjschurer@gmail.com
0936541625

Shortly after the e-mail, there was a phone conversation between my girlfriend and the Samsung Service center in Saigon. Samsung will send an engineer to look at my television.

The biggest backpack I have ever seen in my life

The guy came with the biggest backpack I ever have seen in my life. He immediately started to disassemble my old television and removed the circuit boards. My girlfriend already whispered to me that she has no idea how much it will cost. We kept quiet and watched how the engineer was performing his job. He swapped the broken panel with a new panel. The circuit boards and the original cover were placed back. The television was showing a spotless image. Mission accomplished.

The good news that the complete operation was free of charge. It turns out that Samsung is offering two years of warranty on televisions in Vietnam. The only thing the engineer had to do was to register the television in the database of Samsung. The original seller of the television has failed to do so. I had always the wrong assumption that Samsung only is offering one year of warranty on their television. But it’s two years. I’m really happy with this information because I was afraid that I had to buy a new television. This was not the case.

The warranty service in Vietnam is way better than I’m used to in Europe. If in Europe something break I have to go back to the shop with the product. Wait in line for the customers’ service. Then I have to wait maybe one till three weeks for the shop to find the problems and to repair it. Drive back to the shop to collect the repaired television. Takes a lot of time. In Vietnam, the problem is solved in 20 minutes. You don’t even need to leave your home. Thank you Samsung for fixing my television.

Unpacking a new LCD panel for my televisionA new LCD panel for my Samsung televisionThe samsung LCD panel with the circuitboards installed